Page 10 of Cadaver Lab: Mind Over Murder

“Sure. Love to.” Natalie smiled as she saw out of the corner of her eye Harper go deathly pale.

Natalie was getting good at pretending everything was all right. She’d had enough practice since moving to Mudville. Harper, not so much. The woman looked positively terrified.

Natalie wouldn’t be surprised if Harper ended up out cold on the floor. Or at least hyperventilating.

Did she even have a paper bag in the shop for Harper to breathe into? That was the remedy for hyperventilating. At least that’s what she’d seen on TV. Would a plastic trash bag work⁠—

“Did you speak with the deceased last night?” Carson asked, breaking into her thoughts.

“What? No. Of course not,” she answered on a nervous laugh.

Carson stopped and pinned Natalie with a stare. “Why did you say it like that?”

Uh oh. “Um…let’s just say he wasn’t very nice.”

“Jeezus, Natalie. Do you want to be a suspect?” Gabe asked, shaking his head.

Gabe was right. She needed to keep her answers short and sweet. Emphasis on the sweet part. Yes or no. That’s it.

“Then again, I really didn’t know the man. Not personally anyway. I mean, do we truly know anyone nowadays? And Liam and I arrived late, after the meeting was already underway, so I really didn’t have the opportunity to, you know, socialize. Ask anyone.”

So much for the yes and no answers. She finished her babbling ramble but thought it had actually gone pretty well. Carson looked more bored than suspicious. Good. Crisis averted… at least as far as she was concerned.

“Did you witness the deceased interact with Harper Lowinsky aka Harper Lowry at any point last night?”

Crud. Crisis mode engaged once again.

Natalie nodded as she parsed her words carefully, thinking before speaking… for once. “Um, the only verbal exchange I saw between Harper and…the deceased was when she was interacting with the entire audience in a question-and-answer period during her official presentation, which she gave at the invitation of the Rotary.”

There. Ha! Let Carson try to find fault with that.

Natalie looked toward Gabe and saw him nod in approval. Harper’s expression too showed a glimmer of hope. This was good. She’d helped.

How could they really think Harper capable of murder? Which begged the question, if they did think that, why?

Natalie raised one hand. “Um, Deputy Bekker?”

Carson lifted his gaze from the notebook. “Yes?”

“How did the deceased die? Do you have a cause of death?”

Gabe pointed at Natalie. “Yes! Good question, Nat.”

Proud she’d thought of it, she tipped her head to one side and waited for the deputy’s answer.

“The body is awaiting an autopsy by the county coroner’s office in Morris…” Carson began, and although he looked as though he had more to say, he stopped.

Natalie nodded, having had much more first-hand knowledge about the autopsy procedures in this county than any civilian should. She knew findings took time. Time she wasn’t willing to wait when her friend’s fate hung in the balance.

“Come on, Carson. What did it look like for the cause of death? Was there a knife sticking out of him? A gunshot wound? What?” Harper asked, manic panic shading her voice as she was obviously not willing to wait patiently for autopsy results either.

“I really can’t say.”

Harper shrugged. “That’s fine. I’m assuming an ambulance was called. I’ll just ask Stone’s brother who is on the fire department to text the EMT who responded…”

Defeated, Carson sighed. “Fine. Initial reports indicate a cardiac event.”

“A heart attack?” Harper repeated.